Grand Canyon National Park
Days Seven & Eight - Best of the Southwest - 2023
Two days exploring the world’s most impressive canyon.
1. Desert View Watchtower
The Desert View Watchtower was built in 1932 and serves as a viewpoint from which many visitors see their first views of the Grand Canyon.
Departing Page early in the morning, we made our way to the eastern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. As the 2022-2023 winter season was particularly snowy, and as the South Rim of the Grand Canyon sits at about 7,000 feet / 2,100 meters, there was still plenty of ice and snow on the ground.
Arriving at Desert View, the first significant stop-off point in the park, we reassessed our plan over coffee. Initially, we had planned to do some hiking along the Rim Trail in the afternoon, with a follow-on hike the following day down and back up the South Kaibab Trail. Having not discounted the possibility of the latter, we purchased some microspikes at the shop before taking in our first views of the Grand Canyon itself.
2. Desert View #1
The bottom of the Grand Canyon is often 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit / 8 to 11 degree Celsius than at the top.
It had been almost 20 years to the day since the last time I had visited the Grand Canyon. While my recollection of that trip was still pretty strong in my mind, laying my eyes upon the canyon again was such powerful experience it might as well have been my first visit.
Three more photographs from Desert View follow.
3. Desert View #2
4. Desert View #3
5. Desert View #4
6. The Rim Trail #1
The Rim Trail is 13 miles / 21 kilometers long, running from the South Kaibab Trailhead to Hermits Rest.
Taking our time with the ice-covered trails and paths, we parked the car at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center and headed to Mather Point. Our plan was to do the short walk between Mather Point and Grand Canyon Village, stopping at Yavapi Point along the way. This would allow us to cover the main visitor locations on the South Rim before tackling the South Kaibab Trail the following day.
Seven more photos from this short but spectacular walk follow.
7. The Rim Trail #2
8. The Rim Trail #3
9. The Rim Trail #4
10. The Rim Trail #5
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Now back to the travelogue!
11. The Rim Trail #6
12. The Rim Trail #7
13. The Rim Trail #8
14. The Rim Trail #9
Is the Grand Canyon the deepest canyon in the world? Depends on who you ask, but almost certainly not. Is it the most impressive? That really is a matter of opinion, but almost certainly yes!
The following morning, any aspirations of hiking the steep, switchback-filled South Kaibab Trail disappeared like the landscape did overnight in a puff of snow. There was about 6 inches / 15 cm of snow on the rental car, and we decided that slipping and falling down one of the trail’s many crevasses was not a great way to spend a vacation.
After kicking some ideas around in our heads, and remembering that the portion of the trail we traveled on the day before was relatively well maintained, the only plan we could think of was to hike as far as we could along the Rim Trail from the parking lot at Mather Trail.
Wanting to mix things up a bit, I put the Neutral Density filter on the camera to try and capture the morning’s wild snowy and windy weather. The results were really great! We made it all the way to Mohave Point before the trail conditions deteriorated enough to convince us to turn back.
Four more Neutral Density photos from our hike follow.
15. The Rim Trail #10
16. The Rim Trail #11
17. The Rim Trail #12
18. The Rim Trail #13
Very cold from our travels, we made our way back to the hotel in nearby Tusayan where we relished the warm evening indoors.
It felt great to be back at the Grand Canyon, but -considering the park itself is the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island- there is lots more left for me to explore! Like many other places visited on this road trip, I’ll certainly be back one day!
